Arigatou
by Peridot Tears
Summary: She never really noticed him, but he thought of her as rather cute. Ryoma can say that her hair is too long, or she could be called annoying, but he can say that she caught his eye. One-shot. Fluff. FujiSaku. Second part deleted by accident. Sorry...


**_PT: I thought this up last night during a howling thunderstorm, drafted some of it, and decided to type it down today :) My first FujiSaku. It's a cute pairing, but I don't know where it came from. Anyways, enjoy._**

_Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis is AWESOME :D However, if I owned it, the English dub wouldn't suck xO_

xXx

It wasn't a normal day at Seigaku, and one can tell.

It was actually a sort of day that alighted upon the school once each year.

A day when people blushed, all smiled, felt something warm; when people confessed love, others enjoyed bright red, purple, white, and pink.

It seemed that everyone loved Seigaku on Valentine's Day.

Of course, there was no visible enjoyment on a fraction of the students.

Tezuka Kunimitsu was stoic as ever, and made the tennis club run laps without hesitation.

Kaidoh Kaoru went through halls, hissing and keeping an expression that said, "Come near me, acknowledge me, piss me off, and I will cheerfully bite your head off." He acted the same as usual, but perhaps a touch tenser.

Echizen Ryoma had a harder job, though.

He avoided his screaming, squealing fangirls the best he could, actually neglecting use of his trademark "mada mada dane"; fangirls had less of a chance to notice him when he passed, however slight, just by not saying it.

Inui Sadaharu merely found pleasure in his Inui Juice, as it seemed. He had improved it to bright salmon pink, tasting like "thrown-up wasabi that a cat had used as a litterbox's contents", as described by Momoshiro before collapsing, apparently dead.

However, what was pleasurable was the atmosphere.

An air of excitement drifted around, lazily striking people and spreading. It acted like some virus, but -- believe it or not -- it was actually good.

Students would suddenly find something in their bags, lockers -- or a teacher would give something to them, acting as a delivery person. They kept buttoned lips on who the sender was.

xXx

Ryuuzaki Sakuno was a sender.

She had shifted into school that day, wondering if Ryoma-kun would like the little chocolate lollipop that she had bought for him.

It was in her bag, and she had placed it in carefully. Even now, her hand was on the spot where it bulged, seeming to stick out and send vibrations through her body.

'Ryoma-kun...' Her brain said it, and she blushed.

As she walked to her next class, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

Of course, she turned -- and found herself face-to-face with her grandmother.

"O-Obaasan!"

"Oi."

Sakuno twitched at the slightest; what was her grandmother doing here at this time?

To her surprise, Sumire was holding a heart shaped box in her right hand.

It was red, about the size of a snuffbox. It seemed to be made of red leather, seeing how it glinted from the lights. It was a bit plain, but there were intricate patterns of some plush on the top. The plush was darker red, and it had an interesting pattern.

Something that looked like...a cross between a heart, a tennis ball, and an apple.

Even more to her surprise, Sumire held it out to her.

"O-Obaasan...?"

"Secret admirer," her grandmother replied. "He asked me to give this to you."

Sakuno made a small, confused noise as she reached for it.

It was smooth, and cool to the touch. It was soft, but felt firm.

Sakuno let her fingers tighten around it and slid it out of Sumire's grasp.

When she took it, she looked at it -- in a curious way. Clearly, she was a little puzzled.

"Obaasan" -- Sakuno looked at the little design on the top, studying its strange making -- "who gave me this -- ?"

"Secret admirer, Sakuno." Sumire's firmly cut down hers; like a knife sliding through potatoes. Sakuno's words were the potatoes. "Though the boy that gave it to me was unusually brave. Giving my granddaughter gifts..." Amusement made her smile.

A face -- not to mention a pair of piercing eyes -- found its way into Sakuno's mind.

"He was on the tennis team as well..."

Ryoma...kun...?

"...One of the older regulars. He said you were rather cute."

A meteor crashed into her heart.

It wasn't him.

One of the older regulars.

Of course not.

She was foolish to think that Ryoma-kun would actually do something like this. Of course not. Of course not.

Then who could it be?

Sakuno stared at the box in her hand. Of course not. Of course not.

Then...who was it...? Who on the tennis team would -- ?

"Sakuno?"

She looked up.

"Hai?"

The older person's smile was still pasted on her face as she said something that held as much value as twelve miles of gold and a loving Ryoma:

"I won't say who he is, but I think he's been looking at you ever since you cheered for Echizen when Seigaku played against Jyosei Shonan. I've even seen him staring at you. I have no doubt that he thought you were cute. That F--"

Sumire broke off, as she began to say his name.

But Sakuno had caught enough.

_Fuji-senpai...?_

A dash of warmth entered her.

_He thinks I'm cute?_

xXx

"Oh..." Sakuno held her school bag above her head as the rain poured down.

She had just been walking home, when it started to rain cats and dogs. Unfortunately, she had no umbrella.

A fork of lightning once again split the sky in the distance, lighting the earth and heavens.

A rumble of thunder wasted no time in following.

Drops of water were already pelting down, coming in a myriad of endless liquid.

Lightning slit the sky again, and Sakuno walked a bit faster.

She absolutely hated thunderstorms. Even now, late into her still-short life, she feared this force of nature. That loud sound that echoed around her, that bright light that slit the sky like a knife through a throat.

Horribly scared.

The rain actually felt good, soothing, cool -- but in this torrent, it was actually unbearably cold.

For a moment, Sakuno felt cold drops hitting her skin as she tried to go down the street at a faster pace.

Then, wetness stopped dropping, and a shadow fell over her.

Had the rain stopped? No...she could still see falling raindrops.

She looked up.

A smiling boy, slits of blue behind eyelids. Light chocolate hair, in a wavy mop.

Fuji Syuusuke held a black umbrella above her. He seemed to be so out of place in the rain. Behind him, another bright fork branched like a tree. It lit the heavens up.

He was suddenly there, holding the umbrella. Like some angel dropped from the heavens, sent just to relieve her of the pouring rain.

"Saaa... Konnichi wa Sakuno-chan." Fuji spoke so cheerfully, his usual voice a friend among the rolls of thunder that came right after.

"Oh. Konnichi wa...Fuji-senpai." Sakuno remembered the box.

A sudden flush crawled up her neck.

Shyly, she added, "Erm...

"Oh!" That was enough for her to say as the tensai suddenly slid the umbrella's handle into her hand.

"Saaa...you can use this, Sakuno-chan." It suddenly appealed to her that the tennis regular was calling her 'chan'. "You can return it to me tomorrow."

Before she could protest, he was gone again.

He turned around and walked off in the other direction. To who-knows-where. And Sakuno's throat was too dry to allow sound.

Before long, Fuji Syuusuke had walked off, out of her vision.

He had gone, so fast, like some magician disappearing.

The handle in the young girl's hand felt dry and warm. But what appealed to her the most was how it tingled in her palm. Someone had just touched this.

Someone's soft hands had touched this handle. Someone who had found something in her.

The girl's fingers tightened around it, as if feeling for traces of the person who had touched it last.

_Arigatoo...Fuji-senpai._

xXx

**_PT: Done! W00T! I hope you like this :D Fuji-senpai!! -Glomps-_**

**_EDIT 9/10/09: I'm taking Japanese classes, and so I'm changing the spelling of arigatoo...it's how my teacher spelled it._**


End file.
